How do i get my finnish liquid soap thicker? Can i put in glycerin?
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Glycerin will not thicken the product; it will only cut the lather. There is no generic single answer to your question. We need to know the soap recipe and what you did to dilute the soap paste.
MickeyRat
Well-Known Member
I'm not claiming any expertise here. I thought about doing liquid soap but, I haven't worked up the nerve yet. In my searching around about it, I ran across this article.
https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-...icks/how-to-use-and-thicken-liquid-soap-base/
I can't vouch for it. I'm hoping DeeAnna might have an opinion about it.
https://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-...icks/how-to-use-and-thicken-liquid-soap-base/
I can't vouch for it. I'm hoping DeeAnna might have an opinion about it.
That article is about using salt or fragrance or Crothix to thicken a particular soap base sold by Bramble Berry. I gather you're focusing on the salt part of the article?
If your recipe is high in oleic acid, salt will thicken the soap -- up to a point. If you add more salt, the soap will thin out again (something the BB folks apparently don't realize). Salt also tends to reduce the lather, so there are tradeoffs to this approach to thickening.
Salt will not work for low oleic recipes. So, for example, a 100% coconut oil soap won't thicken with salt no matter how much you add.
If you've over-diluted the soap, regardless of the recipe, salt may not work at all.
I asked for the OPs recipe and method for dilution because it's impossible to give advice without basic info. I don't know if the recipe is high oleic, low oleic, over diluted, or what.
If your recipe is high in oleic acid, salt will thicken the soap -- up to a point. If you add more salt, the soap will thin out again (something the BB folks apparently don't realize). Salt also tends to reduce the lather, so there are tradeoffs to this approach to thickening.
Salt will not work for low oleic recipes. So, for example, a 100% coconut oil soap won't thicken with salt no matter how much you add.
If you've over-diluted the soap, regardless of the recipe, salt may not work at all.
I asked for the OPs recipe and method for dilution because it's impossible to give advice without basic info. I don't know if the recipe is high oleic, low oleic, over diluted, or what.
I thought you are wanting advice about soap you have made, not about coconut oil. Soap does not have the same properties as the fats from which the soap is made. Do not confuse the two.
Um, yes, that would be correct.
Did you enter your recipe in a soap recipe calculator before you made soap? Two calculators are Soapee or Soapcalc.
If you check your recipe using a recipe calculator, you get a fatty acid profile as part of the finished recipe. That fatty acid profile tells you the percentages of all the fatty acids that will be in the finished soap.
Create a recipe with 100% olive oil. Look for oleic acid -- how much is in this recipe?
Create a second recipe with 100% coconut oil soap. How much oleic acid is in that recipe?
How do the two recipes compare? Which do you think is a low-oleic soap? Which do you think is a high-oleic soap?
